Wandering Eyes
by BrideOfGuts
Summary: IchiRuki, 686 Compliant, NSFW, Multi Chapter "Orihime mentions needing a babysitter for the morning, and Rukia breifly wonders if she too eagerly offers herself as tribute."
1. Chapter 1

He looks across the room and finds her, and she's already looking at him. Amethyst orbs that he can't help but get lost in, that melt him and _see,_ truly _see_ him like no others can. His breath catches in his throat, and he forces himself to look away.

He feels his wife's hand settle on his underneath the dinner table, and he suddenly remembers where he is.

Exhale.

When his eyes disconnect from hers she tries to find anything else to look at, anything else besides her husband who she can feel staring at her, close enough to feel his body heat wash over her in agonizing waves.

She wonders how things wound up like this, and pretends to be interested in whatever is on the television.

* * *

Eventually the atmosphere changes as the children get put to bed, the wine comes out and drinking games commence. Things seem normal, bearable, if only for these short lived moments.

But then it happens again, by chance, their laughter mingles and their eyes meet and the moment is fleeting and their hearts are pounding and all Ichigo wants to do is grab her and kiss her the way he never kisses Inoue, and touch her like no one is watching. But someone is watching, always watching.

She wonders if Renji ever notices the tension in the room, the way her and Ichigo's reiatsus intertwine once they get within arms distance of each other, doing what their physical bodies cannot. Then she thinks that there's no way in hell that he doesn't, and her heart drops to her stomach and she winces.

* * *

Orihime mentions needing a babysitter for the morning, and Rukia briefly wonders if she too eagerly offers herself as tribute. The auburn eyed woman chirps with thanks and tells Rukia she's welcome to the couch, or one of the many guest rooms the all too empty house has to offer. Renji offers to stay but Rukia insists that the mountain of paperwork on his desk back home desperately needs attention, and her bargain of Byakuya's anger sells him.

Inoue bids the pair goodnight, leaving Ichigo with a kiss upon his forehead and Rukia with a warm, soft hug that's filled with something more, something Rukia is too much of a coward to read into. It's almost enough to make her feel guilty for what she knows is about to happen. What on some level, they _all_ know is about to happen.

* * *

He walks the small shinigami to his old room, which now serves as his study, and where he goes to lock himself away from this reality. From this life. None of this is mentioned, because it doesn't have to be. Rukia can see the way the closet serves as a time capsule, untouched for what must have been 10 years. She turns to him and opens her mouth to speak, but before she can his hand is cupping her jaw like a steel trap and his mouth was on hers like a moth to the flame.

* * *

She coos into their kiss and leans heavily into his touch, her legs entangled around him as he pins her against the sliding closet door. She never was good at resisting him and she's too fucking tired to pretend this isn't what she'd been waiting so long for.

The way her finger tips curl in his hair sends shivers down his spine, and he remembers just how much he has missed her touch. His desperation for her grows and he tugs at her dress, a silent demand that she wordlessly complies to. Her bare breasts fit perfectly in his hands, and he squeezes and massages them with just the right roughness, his thumb gently circling her taut nipples. She moans into his ear and he throbs against her warmth.

She whimpers like a cat in heat under his touch, writhing and mewling as he slips a finger into her wetness. She arches against him and rocks her hips in unison with his thrusts. Yet, her eyes sting with tears.

"I-Ichigo," she begins between pants, "we shouldn't be doing this, your wife is in the-"

but she's cut off as he slams her onto his old bed, and begins eating her like a man starved, and a man starved for her he has been. She looks down at him and catches his eyes, steady and serious. They say, "Don't talk about her, not here, not now. We have all of our lives to regret this." and she gives into him like she always has.

* * *

He fucks her into the mattress until she forgets where they are, what time it is, what reality this is and the only thing she can remember is the sweet scent of him and the way his body molds so perfectly into hers. She kisses his shoulders and his neck until her lips go numb and he shivers from the pleasure of her gentle touch without waver. Tears sting at his eyes and finally he loses all control, pouring himself into her and onto her as the tears begin to over flow.

Rukia comforts him and holds onto him for dear life, and they stay like that until they both succumb to exhaustion.

* * *

When she wakes up, her arms are empty but she can feel Ichigo's presence from the doorway. He leans against the door frame, and she wonders what time it is. Frantically she looks for her dress, only to find it's already been slipped onto her. How in the...?

"We fell asleep. I took care of it." was all he said, and Inoue walks by the room but doesn't say a word. Rukia gives Ichigo a questioning look but he just shrugs.

Did she... _Did she know?_

Guilt knives at Rukia's gut like a jagged blade, and she fights the urge to throw up all over the sheets her and Ichigo had just dirtied.

* * *

Rukia lets the children sleep in as she paces the downstairs of the Kurosaki household, and she wonders how she'll ever face the light of day again. Tears well in her eyes and she finally lets herself fall apart, cursing herself and Ichigo for the choices they made. How did things end up this way? She sobbed in the kitchen for what felt like eternity. When she finally dried her eyes, she felt Ichigo's presence bursting in through the front door.

Before she can ask him what he was doing home so early, he grabs her by the shoulders and said the words she'd only dreamed about hearing for the last 10 years. Her heart caught in her throat.

"Rukia, I did it. I left Orihime."


	2. Chapter 2

D _ead eyes look through the windows of a foreclosed Bakery, and a still-but-barely beating heart breaks. Orihime feels a tears welling up in her auburn orbs when she hears a familiar voice calling her name._ _"_ _Orihime?"_ it asks. _"It's been a while."_

* * *

"Kurosaki!" a loud voice interrupts her reminiscing, "I'm not _paying_ you to stand around!" spat her boss, "now get to back to sweeping!"

And so she does. She sweeps and sweeps and sweeps some more until the hospital floor is free of dust, and then she mops it. Orihime had recently started working again, and for the first time in a long time, she was happy. Far too long she had stayed as a house wife. Though she loves her family, remaining stagnant had begun to ware her down- chipping her away, piece by piece. She almost felt guilty for not being happy. She'd married the love of her life, right? The man she'd love for five different lifetimes, and not only were they married, she was the mother to his only child.

Except, things are never that black and white.

When Ichigo finally gave into her, she'd been so, so happy. She'd sworn to herself that she was going to light his dull eyes again, that she would take Rukia's place in being the flame that kept him going. She was determined. So determined, that after a night of one too many drinks and exhibitions lost, she proposed to him. For the first time in a long time, he actually smiled at her. He didn't embrace her or kiss her like she'd always imagined he would, but he did smile. He smiled and said, _"Okay."_

Looking back on it, she realized that she'd been overly hopeful. She'd ignored the drinking habit, the days of locking himself in his "study", and the way he would never actually refer to his as his wife. How sometimes, he still called her "Inoue" even long after taking his last name.

She told herself that he just needed time.

* * *

 _"_ _Ishida-kun," she says in surprise._ _"_ _What are you doing here?" He asks, and he frowns when he speaks. "This place has been closed for months." He knows because he used to come here every day._ _"_ _I had no idea." she admits, and silently wipes her eyes and hopes Ishida doesn't notice. "This was my favorite bakery. It's the only one for miles," she laughs. "I always dreamed of working here one day, and maybe becoming an apprentice of the baker who owned the shop..." she trailed off, realizing that it was all moot now, and silently begged her eyes not to let the tears she'd been fighting to fall._

 _"I remember." he says, and it catches her by surprise.  
"You do?"  
"How could I forget? It's all you ever used to talk about. Well that, along with all sorts of things really..." he glances at her and her smiling face is all the reassurance he needs to keep going.  
"That, and being an astronaut, and a teacher, and I think something about being a robot. Am I missing anything?"_ _The redhead bursts into a fit of giggles, and she belly laughs in a way she hadn't in a long, long time._

She'd been working at the Karakura Hospital for 6 months now, and she actually _enjoyed_ it. She liked seeing the patients, fluffing their pillows and doting after the children that had been checked into the ICU. She liked taking care of people. She didn't mind having to clean up after everyone. Getting paid to do it was just icing on the cake, because for the first time in a decade she felt _wanted_. _Needed_. _Necessary._ Things Ichigo has never given her.

"Orihime," a familiar voice beckons her attention, "I brought you lunch."

* * *

 _"_ _Orihiime", he calls her name like a prayer, like a mantra as he holds onto her head for dear life as she sucks it out of him. She bobs up and down and it's the perfect rhythm, it feels so good that his hands are trembling and his legs useless. She smiles against his length and pulls him deeper into her throat, causing him to buck his hips and knock over the surgical plate to the right of them. She ignores it, and continues like nothing happened- she doesn't even jump._

"Oh, how thoughtful of you Ishida-kun!" she smiles and takes the homemade bento box cheerfully. She always did love his cooking.

 _She loves to please him, to make him squirm and cum for her. It gives her a sense of accomplishment, of fulfillment. It makes her feel good to make someone who cares so deeply for her feel good. By the time she's finished with him, he's a red faced panting mess, and to her it couldn't be more adorable._

 _They continue like that for a while, sneaking around the hospital like high schoolers and it's new, exciting, and fun. She feels a chemistry with Uryu Ishida that she didn't know was possible to have with anyone. She slowly begins to realize that she has fallen in love with him, and guilt festers in her belly like a rabid storm for months._

They eat lunch together, and she tells him about Rukia staying, and how she offered to babysit. She tells him how she knows about Ichigo and her, and how she on some level always had. She explains that it hurt in a way, but she was also relieved. Maybe now, things would fall into place for them. All of them.

Ishida opens his mouth to respond, but he's interrupted by a nurses aid.

"Gomen, Doctor Ishida, but Mrs. Kurosaki's husband is here."

Orihime feels Ishida's skin crawl at the sound her formal name, and her stomach contracts with an emotion she can't explain. In the half year that Orihime has worked here, Ichigo has not once ever came to visit her at work.

Why now?

She treads down the hallway that leads to the main lobby, and their eyes meet. She never was good at reading him, but she recognizes something is different about him. There's resolve in his posture. His eyes remain steady. For a second, she feels like she's looking at a ghost.

"Ichigo," she greets him. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Did something happen at work?" she becomes frantic, "Did Kazui get hurt? Oh my gosh, Kazui! Is he ok-" She is cut off by his hands grabbing her own, stopping her mid-frenzy and shakes his head no. "No! No. Nothing like that Orihime. Just... Can we talk? Are you busy?"

* * *

Ishida watches them walk out of his sight and can't help but feel a pang of jealousy, and malcontent toward Ichigo. He knows it's misplaced, but it's easier than putting the blame on himself. Either way, it doesn't stop him from following the married couple to the cafeteria and watching from afar.

He can't hear them, but their body language is enough. Ichigo looks more himself than he's seen him in a long time, and he take a guess as to why. Ichigo stands in front of Orihime as she sits on a bench. He doesn't look at her as he talks. Not until the very end.

By the end of the conversation, Ichigo is kneeling so he has to look up at Orihime. Ishida can see the tears pouring from his lovers eyes, and his heart seizes in his chest. He can just barely make out the words, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." from Ichigo's lips. Ichigo squeezes her hand as he stands up, and with that he leaves her.

He looks in Ishida's direction, and he smiles, and then he's gone.

When Ishida finally approaches Orihime, he's not sure what to expect. He sits next to her, and there's a long moment of silence between them. Orihime's eyes look at nothing as she processes what just happened, and Ishida wipes her tear streaked cheeks. Finally, she looks at him and beams.

"It's over." Is all she has to say.


End file.
